Design of monopiles for offshore wind turbines in 10 steps

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Abstract

A simplified design procedure for foundations of offshore wind turbines is often useful as it can provide the types and sizes of foundation required to carry out financial viability analysis of a project and can also be used for tender design. This paper presents a simplified way of carrying out the design of monopiles based on necessary data (i.e. the least amount of data), namely site characteristics (wind speed at reference height, wind turbulence intensity, water depth, wave height and wave period), turbine characteristics (rated power, rated wind speed, rotor diameter, cut-in and cut-out speed, mass of the rotor-nacelle-assembly) and ground profile (soil stiffness variation with depth and soil stiffness at one diameter depth). Other data that may be required for final detailed design are also discussed. A flowchart of the design process is also presented for visualisation of the rather complex multi-disciplinary analysis. Where possible, validation of the proposed method is carried out based on field data and references/guidance are also drawn from codes of practice and certification bodies. The calculation procedures that are required can be easily carried out either through a series of spreadsheets or simple hand calculations. An example problem emulating the design of foundations for London Array wind farm is taken to demonstrate the proposed calculation procedure. The data used for the calculations are obtained from publicly available sources and the example shows that the simplified method arrives at a similar foundation to the one actually used in the project.